When Indian farmers used an anti-inflammatory drug to treat their cattle no one expected the results would include a sharp increase in rabies infections, lost livelihoods and spiritual upheaval with costs running into billions of dollars. Why?The drugs were toxic to vultures and some 40 million of these birds perished. So they didn't pick the cattle carcasses clean. That meant thousands of India's poorest people who relied upon skin and bones for their income lost out. At the same time many of the Indian Parsee sect were no longer able to pursue their religious practice of sky burial whereby the birds disposed of bodies.There were winners though, mainly the feral dog population – which leaped by 7 million.More dogs meant more dog bites, and as a result an estimated extra 48,000 people died from rabies. The estimated cost to the Indian economy from the loss of the vultures over 14 years was put at $34 billion. The cost to Novartis, whose new drug that started it all? Nil.This story of unintended consequences is one among many to make clear how nature does far more for us than most of us realise. And we can often count the value in cold cash terms.The fact is that 'natural services' provided by nature – everything from Indian vultures to Chinese bees and from soil microbes to ocean plankton – keep the global economy going. No nature, no economy."A life-belt for the planet. Read this book and change the world'.
Nick Crane, author and TV presenter Tony Juniper, ex Friends of the Earth, has answered the siren call of the far west and is finally making it down here... in splendid partnership with the Environment and Sustainability Institute at Tremough campus ( www.tremoughcampus.com/esi) we’ve arranged for Tony to give a public lecture on 1st May 18.00 – 20.00 Daphne Du Maurier (Lecture Theatre A).

He'll be giving an introduction to his new book ‘What has Nature Ever Done for Us?’ and answering questions from the audience.

There has already been a huge response to this in the last few hours; an online registration link will be made available through the ESI within the week, so stand by as we'll send it out straightaway.

For those CoaSTies not handy for Falmouth ESI will be recording it, and if you have a query, add it to the CoaSTie page here: we'll ask it for you! Just add it below....